Why Training Your Spine to Move Makes You Stronger and More Resilient

The predominant dogma in fitness, as it relates to what to do with the spine when performing physical tasks, (especially with resistance training) is that the spine shouldn’t move. It should remain in a fixed position, that flexion of the spine is inherently dangerous and potentially injurious.

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Undoubtedly this fixed extended position is more advantageous when performing certain tasks, having a fixed and extended spine is going to allow you to produce the most force and have a better technique when performing Olympic weightlifting movements for example.

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The problem with applying this thought process to all physical tasks is that it creates a very self-limiting view of human movement that leaves people ill-prepared for the real world and everyday movement and that ultimately falls apart under scrutiny.

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Firstly, if we look a the spine, it’s 26 bones, with 100s of tendon attachments and over a 100-ligaments and its cable of 74 articulations. If the spine were meant to remain in a fixed position it would probably look more like your thigh bone. Indeed, the level movement the spine is capable of has leads to the theory of the “spinal engine” which proposes that the spine is the primary engine of all human movement.

Secondly when observing movements being performing it appears that a completely neutral spine is in play. For example, that perfectly upright front squat, however in almost every occurrence movement and articulations of the spine are occurring as they are essential to actually perform the movement, they are just not visible to us observationally.

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If we have now established that having an immovable spine is a fallacy, the idea of not training the spine in different positions and exposing it to varying demands seems silly. If we go a bit ‘Crossfit' on this, we know “people fail at the margins of their experience”. How many people throw out their back when bending sideways or twisting awkwardly in everyday life? In all these cases i would argue they have had no exposure to these movements and therefore are ill equipped to deal with them; they fail at this margin of their experience.

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So, what does this mean when we circle back around to training? In my opinion we should give ourselves exposures to a multitude of different positions under load to create a robust spine. Picking up objects in awkward positions, things like Zerchers and Jefferson curls, side bends and ghd sit ups, picking up odd objects like sandbags and heavy offset carries as well as using the spine in different planes of motion such as with medicine ball work. This is not to say these things should entirely replace usual anti rotation work and bracing work most people undertake, instead it should compliment, and add an additional dimension to their training.

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Anecdotally i have found that avoiding moving my spine and not exploring a variety of positions has left me feeling stiff and tight, whilst a small dose of this does wonders for feeling mobile, less stiff and generally better day to day.

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